ITPD20120395A1 - LINEAR ACTUATOR PARTICULARLY REFINED FOR SLIDING DOORS AND SLIDING DOORS IN GENERAL - Google Patents

Description

PERFECTED LINEAR ACTUATOR PARTICULARLY FOR SLIDING DOORS AND FOR SLIDING FRAMES IN GENERAL

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an improved linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general.

Nowadays, in the field of home automation and living spaces in general, the use of actuators for opening and closing internal doors is becoming increasingly popular.

In the context of homes and offices, the automation of sliding sliding doors, including the so-called "retractable doors", is however still not widespread today, since these retractable translating doors are normally installed to be moved manually, and a subsequent assembly of actuator means to automate the translation of the door is relatively complex and uncomfortable.

In general, today the following types of automatic actuators are mainly used for the movement of sliding doors and windows.

A first type of automatic actuators provides a motor, equipped or not with reduction, with a mechanism of the pinion and rack type, the latter associated with the moving part, for example an outdoor gate.

Such an actuator, widespread for the movement of external gates or in the context of the doors of industrial buildings, is generally not very precise in terms of mechanics and therefore noisy; moreover, it normally provides for the motor arranged to operate with a vertical axis and therefore transversely with respect to the direction of development of the rack and of the gate to which the rack is fixed; this arrangement of the motor is to be considered bulky as a whole, in particular if applied to a door, or to a window frame in general, in a domestic environment. Examples of a similar application are present in the patent documents EP1672151 in the name of Hamada Kousyou Co. Ltd and EP1325996 in the name of Bertolouse -Cutrupi - Salerno.

A second type of automatic actuators provides a motor, whether or not equipped with a reduction, which moves the moving part through a belt or chain mechanism.

The use of a belt or chain has significant disadvantages linked to the fact that the same belt and chain are components that must be adjusted after sale, during installation, and to the fact that they are particularly noisy and bulky transmissions, therefore not very suitable for installation. housekeeper.

A third type of automatic actuators provides a motor, equipped or not with reduction, able to move a leaf through a lever system, a solution which is, however, expensive and very cumbersome.

A fourth type of automatic actuators provides a motor, with or without reduction, which moves the mobile part through the use of a rotor with magnets or electromagnets and a rail also with magnetic elements.

These products, although technically and functionally excellent, are of high quality and therefore very expensive, both in terms of production and consequently in terms of final cost for a buyer.

To obviate the aforementioned limitations of the prior art, a linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding windows in general has been developed and is the subject of patent application PD 2011 A 162 in the name of TOPP S.P.A. consists in the fact of comprising a support body, to be fixed with corresponding fastening means between the two jambs of a door or window, in said support body motorization means being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a gear, driving , designed to be meshed with a rack, driven, in turn fixed to a leaf, of the door, to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation of the driving gear which is substantially parallel to the direction of development of the rack; this driving gear is given by a screw element, the thread of which is able to engage between the oblique teeth of the rack.

This linear actuator, while functional and fully capable of obviating the limits of the aforementioned prior art, is not devoid of perfectibility.

In fact, the sizing and precision with which the threads of the screw element are made are of fundamental importance, as well as the finish of the contact surface between the screw element and the rack is decisive in terms of noise. and component wear over the entire life of the actuator.

The diameter of the screw element, the number of threads meshed simultaneously, the helix angle of the same screw element and the pressure angle are fundamental parameters for an optimal and efficient operation of such a linear actuator. and the incorrect choice of one of these parameters can cause noise, high current absorption, overheating, blockages, and other similar problems.

Equally important is, for the current regulations, the reversibility of the linear actuator, or the possibility of translating the door, or the rack fixed to the door, manually, without the screw element getting stuck preventing this movement. so as to guarantee the possibility for a user to open and close the door to which the linear actuator is applied even in the absence of electricity to power the actuator, such as in the event of a black out.

The aim of the present invention is to provide an improved linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, capable of obviating the limitations of known linear actuators.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator capable of ensuring less wear of the components and better efficiency with respect to the known art.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved reversible linear actuator which is therefore safe even in the absence of an electric power supply.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator whose assembly is easy to understand and quick to produce.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator capable of transmitting power so as to provide a continuous and stable translational motion of the door even for doors of particular weight.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator capable of easily adapting to the width of the door opening for which it is intended.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator that is compact and applicable to leaves of any material.

Not least object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, which can be produced with known systems and technologies.

This task, as well as these and other purposes which will appear better later, are achieved by an improved linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body, to be placed between the two jambs of a door. or of a window or door, in said support body motorization means being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear, driving, designed to be meshed with a driven rack, in turn fixed to a leaf of a door or of another window frame to be moved in translation, with the rotation axis of the worm gear substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack, the thread of said worm gear being adapted to mesh with the oblique teeth of said rack, said actuator perfected linear, characterized by the fact that said rack is given by a plurality of modular elements each of the q which have equidistant inclined recesses which define the oblique teeth of said rack together, said rack comprising means for aligning and flanking a row of modular elements.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become clearer from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the improved linear actuator according to the invention, illustrated, by way of non-limiting example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an improved actuator according to the invention applied to a door;

Figure 2 is a partial sectional front view of the actuator of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective section of the actuator according to the invention of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the improved actuator according to the invention;

Figure 5 is a side view of the worm gear of an improved actuator according to the invention;

figure 5a represents a sectioned detail of figure 5;

Figure 6 is a front view of a portion of a rack of an improved actuator according to the invention;

Figures 7 to 9 show an alternative embodiment of a rack of an improved actuator according to the invention.

With reference to the aforementioned figures, an improved linear actuator particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general according to the invention is indicated as a whole with the number 10.

This improved linear actuator 10 is of the type comprising a support body 11, to be arranged, for example, fixed with corresponding fastening means, between the two jambs 21 and 22 of a door 23 or window frame.

In this support body 11 there are housed and fixed motorization means 12, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear 13, driving, designed to be engaged with a rack 14, driven, in turn fixed to a leaf 24 of the door 23 by moving in translation.

The rotation axis 15 of the worm gear 13 is substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack 14.

The thread 16 of said worm gear 13 is adapted to mesh with the oblique teeth 17 of said rack 14.

The peculiarity of the improved linear actuator 10 according to the invention lies in the fact that

- the angle of inclination of the helix 18, figure 5, of said thread 16 is in the range between 15 ° and 25 °,

- and the pressure angle 19 of the thread 16 on the oblique teeth 17 of said rack 14 is comprised in an interval between 0.5 ° and 15 °.

In particular, the pressure angle 19 of the thread 16 on the oblique teeth 17 of the rack 14 is preferably 1 °.

The angle of inclination of the helix 18 of said thread 16 is preferably 19.65 °.

Furthermore, the external diameter 20 of said worm gear 13 is comprised in a range between 25 mm and 50 mm, and preferably is 35 mm. Furthermore, the number of principles 25 of said thread 16 is between 1 and 3, and in the present embodiment these principles are 2, where the term 'principles' means the number of thread turns that wrap around the surface of the screw.

This technical solution results from research, practical tests and developments carried out through calculations, software simulations and tests, up to the determination of the values of the aforementioned parameters that characterize the components of the worm gear 13 and rack 14.

In particular, it has been verified that a too high helix angle 18 entails, for example, an increase in the electrical currents absorbed by the improved actuator 10 and a consequent overheating of the system.

In fact, an angle of inclination of the propeller 18 over 25 ° causes a strong increase in the torque necessary for the drive, while if the propeller angle 18 is too low, below 15 °, it is determined the irreversibility of the improved actuator 10, ie the impossibility of manually translating the leaf to which the rack 14 is fixed in the event of an actuator not electrically powered.

As regards the pressure angle 19, it has been verified that in case of too high a value, beyond 15 °, strong radial thrusts are determined which tend to move the worm gear 13 away from the rack 14 with negative consequences on the coupling.

As regards the external diameter 20 of the worm gear 13, it has been verified that a value lower than 30 mm would lead to a sizing of the transmission and reduction gears 26, exiting from the motor shaft 27, such as to determine the interference between the final gear 28 and the rack 14, where a possible direct coupling between the motor 12 and the worm gear 13 would require a motor that is too small to have the required performance, and in addition to this there would be rotations at higher revolutions than the motor 12 of all the reduction 26 and of the worm gear 13, with a consequent increase in noise.

On the other hand, an external diameter 20 greater than 50 mm would entail overall dimensions that are considered excessive.

The description of the improved linear actuator 10 is completed below.

The drive means 12 are given by an electric motor whose drive shaft 27 drives, through the reduction gears 26, a second shaft 29, on which the final gear 28 of the reduction 26 and the worm gear 13 are mounted.

In the present embodiment, the support body 11 is substantially tubular.

Advantageously, the support body 11 is telescopic, thanks to the extractability of its two opposite side portions 30 and 31, with respect to the central part 32.

The telescopicity of the support body 11 allows its adaptability to doors having passage openings of different widths.

The object of the invention is obviously to be understood as the embodiment, not illustrated for simplicity, in which the support body is provided by a single non-telescopic casing.

The support body 11 is fixed on one side to a jamb 21 by means of a metal bracket 33 and corresponding threaded elements for fastening to the jamb and to the side cover 34 of the support body 11 itself, and on the opposite side by means of a slide 35, well visible in figure 3, hooked to slide on the rack 14.

The rack 14 has, at its long sides 36 and 37, longitudinal grooves 38 and 39 respectively, suitable for receiving the hooking and sliding appendages 40 and 41 protruding from the slide 35.

Said slide 35 is fixed to the support body 11 in correspondence with the worm gear 13, and has an opening suitable to allow the engagement of the thread 16 of the same worm gear 13 with the rack 14.

The fastening of the slide 35 to the support body 11 takes place for example by means of screws, not shown for simplicity.

An important peculiarity of the invention resides in the structure of the rack 14.

In a first embodiment of the improved linear actuator 10 according to the invention, the rack 14 is given by a plurality of modular elements 50, one of which is shown in Figure 6, each of which has equidistant inclined recesses 51 which define the teeth together. 17 of the rack 14 itself.

The rack 14 comprises means for the alignment and orderly flanking of a row of modular elements 50.

Said alignment and side-by-side means are provided by means for hooking up to another equal side-by-side modular element 50 defined at the opposite ends of each modular element 50. Such means for coupling a modular element 50 to another identical side-by-side modular element are given , for example, at a first end 52 by two holes 53, at the opposite second end 54 by two fins 55 with tooth 56 engaging the corresponding holes 53 of another identical modular element 50.

There are further holes 57 for fixing by means of screws the modular elements 50 hooked in a row to a door, for example in wooden material.

Each modular element 50 has a thickness between 1 mm and 6 mm, so as to adapt well to any retractable sliding door. These modular elements 50 are made by molding of plastic material.

In a second embodiment of the invention, the means for aligning and tidily flanking a row of modular elements 150 of the rack, represented in figures 7 to 9 and indicated therein with the number 114, are given by a base 160 made of metal material, with a central channel 161 for a plurality of consecutive flat modular elements 150 side by side carrying the inclined recesses 151 defining the teeth 117 of said rack together.

The base 160 takes the form of a metal profile with a mainly longitudinal development, and is obtained by extrusion or molding.

The central channel 161 is defined by two opposite longitudinal sides 162 and 163 with anti-lifting tabs 164 and 165 for said modular flat elements 150.

The flat modular elements 150 have on the longitudinal edges 166 and 167 some recesses 168 adapted to receive corresponding locking indentations 169 made by plastic deformation on said anti-lifting tongues 164 and 165 of said longitudinal sides of said base 160.

Said rack 114, with the base 160 in metallic material, is well suited for application, for example by gluing, on glass or crystal doors or in metallic material.

The object of the invention is therefore also to be understood as a rack for linear actuators particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general as described above, of the type comprising a support body 11, to be arranged between the two jambs of a door or door. a window frame, in said support body 11 being housed and fixed motorization means 12, suitable for the rotation of a screw gear 13, driving, designed to be meshed with said rack 14, driven, in turn fixed to a leaf of a door or other window frame to be moved in translation, with the rotation axis 15 of the worm gear 13 substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack 14, and with the thread 16 of the worm gear 13 adapted to mesh with the oblique teeth 17 of the rack 14.

Said rack 14 is characterized in that it consists of a plurality of modular elements 50, each of which having equidistant inclined recesses 51 defining the teeth 17 of said rack between them; at the opposite ends of each modular element 50 are defined means for hooking to another equal adjacent modular element.

In the present embodiment of the rack 14 according to the invention, the coupling means take the form of two holes 53 defined at a first end 52 of the modular element 50, while at the opposite second end 54 two fins 55 with engagement tooth are defined. 56 to the corresponding holes 53 of another identical modular element 50.

There are holes 57 for fixing by screws the modular elements 50 hooked in a row to a door, for example in wooden material.

These modular elements 50 are made by molding of plastic material.

The structure of the rack 14, given by a plurality of identical modular elements 50, allows both to produce racks of any length by adding, removing and possibly cutting a predetermined number of such modular elements 50, and to obtain a rack 14 which is slightly deformed with respect to a rack made in a single piece, which can come out of the mold with strong deformations in a predominantly torsional sense.

The invention also relates to a rack 114 for linear actuators particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body 11, to be arranged between the two jambs of a door or window, in which support body 11 there are housed and fixed motorization means 12, suitable for the rotation of a screw gear 13, driving, designed to be engaged with said rack 114, driven, in turn fixed to a leaf of a door or other window frame to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation 15 of the worm gear 13 substantially parallel to the direction of development of the rack 114, the thread 16 of the worm gear 13 being adapted to mesh with the oblique teeth 117 of the rack 114.

Said rack 114 comprises a base 160 made of metal material with a central channel 161 for a plurality of consecutive flat modular flat elements 150 carrying the inclined recesses 151 which define the teeth 117 of said rack 114 between them.

As already described above, the central channel 161 is defined by two opposite longitudinal sides 162 and 163 with anti-lifting tongues 164 and 165 for said modular flat elements 150.

The flat modular elements 150 have on the longitudinal edges 166 and 167 some recesses 168 adapted to receive corresponding locking indentations 169 made by plastic deformation on said anti-lifting tongues 164 and 165 of said longitudinal sides of said base 160.

In practice it has been found that the invention achieves the intended aim and objects.

In particular, the invention has developed an improved linear actuator capable of ensuring less wear of the components and better performance with respect to the known art, thanks to the specific geometric peculiarities described above for the worm gear 13 and the rack 14.

Furthermore, the invention has provided an improved reversible linear actuator which is therefore safe even in the absence of an electrical power supply.

Furthermore, the invention has perfected an improved linear actuator whose assembly is easy to understand and quick to make. Furthermore, the invention has developed a rack for linear actuators that is simple, inexpensive and quick to install even in the few spaces available for the leaves of retractable sliding doors.

In addition, the invention has developed a rack that can be easily adapted to the width of the door leaf for which it is intended.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved linear actuator that is compact and applicable to leaves of any material.

In particular, the improved linear actuator according to the invention is particularly advantageous because it has a low number of components, and therefore its assembly is fast and safe, thanks to the study of the play and the positioning of the fixing screws.

Its installation is quick because there are no mechanical or magnetic constraints, as it is sufficient to center the threads of the worm gear on the rack.

The thin-walled rack allows it to be applied in most situations that arise, for example between door and wall or between door and box in the case of pocket doors, for example.

Another important advantage of the linear actuator according to the invention is that it does not require post-installation adjustments.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept; moreover, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials employed, so long as compatible with the specific use, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to the requirements and the state of the art.

Where the features and techniques mentioned in any claim are followed by reference marks, such marks have been affixed for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and consequently such reference marks have no limiting effect on the interpretation of each element. identified by way of example by these reference signs.

Claims (14)

CLAIMS 1) Improved linear actuator (10) particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body (11), to be placed between the two jambs of a door or window, in said support body ( 11) motorization means (12) being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear (13), driving, designed to be meshed with a rack (14), driven, in turn fixed to a door leaf or of another frame to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation (15) of the worm gear (13) substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack (14), the thread (16) of said worm gear ( 13) being able to mesh with the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14), this improved linear actuator (10) is characterized by the fact that said rack is given by a plurality of modular elements (50) each of which bearing equidistances the inclined recesses (51) defining the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14) together, said rack comprising means for the alignment and orderly flanking of a row of modular elements (50). 2) Actuator according to claim 1, which is characterized by the fact that said alignment and side-by-side means are provided by means for coupling to another equal side-by-side modular element (50) defined at the opposite ends of each modular element (50). 3) Actuator according to the preceding claims, which is characterized by the fact that said means for coupling a modular element (50) to another identical adjacent modular element are given at a first end (52) by two holes (53), at the opposite second end (54) by two fins (55) with tooth engaging (56) to the corresponding holes (53) of another identical modular element (50). 4) Actuator according to the preceding claims, which is characterized by the fact that said modular elements (50) are made by molding of plastic material. 5) Actuator according to claim 1, which is characterized by the fact that said means for aligning and tidily placing a row of modular elements (150) side by side, comprise a base (160) made of metallic material with a central channel ( 161) for a plurality of consecutive side-by-side modular flat-shaped elements (150) bearing inclined recesses (151) defining between them the oblique teeth (117) of said rack (114). 6) Actuator according to the preceding claim, which is characterized by the fact that said base (160) is given by a profile with a prevalently longitudinal development obtained by extrusion or molding. 7) Actuator according to claims 5 and 6, which is characterized by the fact that said central channel (161) is defined by two opposite longitudinal sides (162, 163) with anti-lifting tabs (164, 165) for said modular flat elements ( 150). 8) Actuator according to claims 5 to 7 which is characterized by the fact that said modular flat elements (150) have on the longitudinal edges some recesses (168) suitable for receiving corresponding locking indentations (169) made by plastic deformation on said tabs anti-lifting (164, 165) of said longitudinal sides of said base (160). 9) Actuator according to one or more of the preceding claims, which is characterized by the fact that said rack (14, 114) has a thickness comprised in an interval between 1 mm and 6 mm. 10) Improved linear actuator (10) particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body (11), to be placed between the two jambs of a door or window, in said support body ( 11) motorization means (12) being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear (13), driving, designed to be meshed with a rack (14), driven, in turn fixed to a door leaf or of another frame to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation (15) of the worm gear (13) substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack (14), the thread (16) of said worm gear ( 13) being able to mesh with the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14), this improved linear actuator (10) is characterized by the fact that the angle of inclination of the helix (18) of said thread (16) It is in the range between 15 ° and 25 °. 11) Actuator according to claim 10, which is characterized in that said angle of inclination of the helix (18) of said thread (16) is 19.65 °. 12) Actuator according to the preceding claim, which is characterized in that the pressure angle (19) of the thread (16) on the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14) is included in a range between 0.5 ° and 15 °. 13) Actuator according to claim 12, which is characterized in that said pressure angle (19) of the thread (16) on the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14) is 1 °. 14) Actuator according to the preceding claims, which is characterized by the fact that the external diameter (20) of said worm gear (13) is included in a range between 25 mm and 15) Actuator according to the preceding claims, which is characterized due to the fact that the external diameter (20) of said worm gear (13) is 35 mm. 16) Actuator according to the preceding claims, which is characterized by the fact that the number of principles (25) of said thread (16) is between 1 and 3. 17) Actuator according to the preceding claim, which is characterized by the fact that the number of principles (25) of said thread (16) is 2. 18) Rack (14) for linear actuators particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body (11), to be placed between the two jambs of a door or window, in said support body (11) motorization means (12) being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear (13), driving, designed to be meshed with said rack (14), driven, in turn fixed to a leaf of a door or other window frame to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation (15) of the worm gear (13) substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack (14), the thread (16) of said worm gear (13) being able to mesh with the oblique teeth (17) of said rack (14), which is characterized by the fact that it is given by a plurality of modular elements (50) each of which having equidistant inclined recesses (51) defining between them the dent i (17) of said rack, at the opposite ends of each modular element (50) being defined means for hooking to another equal flanked modular element, said modular elements (50) being made by molding of plastic material. 19) Rack (114) for linear actuators particularly for sliding doors and for sliding doors and windows in general, of the type comprising a support body (11), to be placed between the two jambs of a door or window, in said support body (11) motorization means (12) being housed and fixed, suitable for the rotation of a worm gear (13), driving, designed to be meshed with said rack (114), driven, in turn fixed to a leaf of a door or other window frame to be moved in translation, with the axis of rotation (15) of the worm gear (13) substantially parallel to the direction of development of said rack (114), the thread (16) of said worm gear (13) being able to mesh with the oblique teeth (117) of said rack (114), which is characterized in that it comprises a base (160) in metal material with a central channel (161) for a plurality of consecutive side by side flat elements modular arms (150) bearing inclined recesses (151) defining the teeth (117) of said rack (114) together.